Counties look for money, alternatives to bail
Report: Pretrial programs can curb jail populations

A new study released by the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) sheds light on an underreported but costly problem facing counties and taxpayers:  a significant rise in the jail population.

There are more than 700,000 individuals incarcerated in county jails on any given day, which is up from 400,000 since 1990. An estimated two-thirds of the inmates are in “pretrial status,” meaning that they are being held without conviction at a great cost to local taxpayers. Further, statistics show that of all  pre-trial inmates, a majority (65 percent) are non-violent offenders and are prime candidates for effective pretrial services programs.

“Data show that financial bail is now set in two-thirds of felony cases nationwide, up from only half in 1990,” the report states. “As courts have imposed more and more financial bonds, the net result has been an increase in jail populations. This is because 5 out of 6 felony defendants detained pretrial were unable to post the financial bond ordered by the court.”

NACo and the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI), with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, recently released the report, Jail Population Management: Elected County Officials’ Guide to Pretrial Services. It features model programs with diverse organizational structures, advice on how to use pretrial services to better manage resources and strategies for coordinating services with existing county agencies. The guide serves as a valuable resource to all counties, whether rural, suburban or urban.

  “The money counties spend holding non-violent, unconvicted people before their trial could be better spent elsewhere in the local justice system,” said Deputy Judge Executive Scott Kimmich, Kenton County, Ky. He chairs NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee’s Courts Committee.   

  “While financial bail plays an important role in the local criminal justice system, it should be reserved for violent offenders or those at risk to escape justice,” Kimmich said.  “We hope this report will encourage counties across the country to explore pretrial services as a means to appropriately reduce jail populations.”

One example of how pretrial services programs result in cost-savings took place in North Carolina. In October 2007, a study was released after data was collected from 10 pretrial services programs. The study found that on average the costs per person on pretrial release were $6.04 per day, compared with an average daily cost of $57.30 to keep those same people in jail. The total cost savings to the county by releasing certain people pretrial versus the cost of jail had they not been released was $1.05 million. 

Pretrial services in Maine have also demonstrated cost-savings with little risk to public safety. It was found that one pretrial services position, estimated to cost about $50,000 per year, saves approximately 10,950 bed-days per year. This resulted in savings between $240,900 and $1.32 million. The study also noted that offenders who were released to pretrial supervision were at little risk of violating bail, failing to appear or commit new crimes while under supervision. 

NACo continues to work with the Pretrial Justice Institute on pretrial services issues, including collaboration on technical assistance projects in four counties.

NACo member counties will receive a copy of Jail Population Management: Elected County Officials’ Guide to Pretrial Services, in November. The publication is also available on the NACo Web site. Please visit www.naco.org „County Resource Center„Training and Technical Assistance„Criminal Justice.  For hard copies and more information on NACo’s criminal justice programming, contact Kati Guerra at kguerra@naco.org.